each of them must have been, and said to him, “‘Twere good
hiring if there were many such shepherds; and this shall ever
stand to thy good; but still I will send thee on an errand.”
He said at once he would go.
“Thou shalt go,” says Njal, “to Lithend and tell Gunnar that he
must fare to Gritwater, and then send after men; but I will go to
meet with those who are in the wood and scare them away. This
thing hath well come to pass, so that they shall gain nothing by
this journey, but lose much.”
The shepherd set off and told Gunnar as plainly as he could the
whole story. Then Gunnar rode to Gritwater and summoned men to
him.
Now it is to be told of Njal how he rides to meet these
namesakes.
“Unwarily ye lie here,” he says, “or for what end shall this
journey have been made? And Gunnar is not a man to be trifled
with. But if the truth must be told then, this is the greatest
treason. Ye shall also know this, that Gunnar is gathering
force, and he will come here in the twinkling of an eye, and slay
you all, unless ye ride away home.”
They bestirred them at once, for they were in great fear, and
took their weapons, and mounted their horses and galloped home
under the Threecorner.
Njal fared to meet Gunnar and bade him not to break up his
company.
“But I will go and seek for an atonement; now they will be finely
frightened; but for this treason no less a sum shall be paid when
one has to deal with all of them, than shall be paid for the
slaying of one or other of those namesakes, though such a thing
should come to pass. This money I will take into my keeping, and
so lay it out that it may be ready to thy hand when thou hast
need of it.”
69. OLAF THE PEACOCK’S GIFTS TO GUNNAR
Gunnar thanked Njal for his aid, and Njal rode away under the
Threecorner, and told those namesakes that Gunnar would not break
up his band of men before he had fought it out with them.
They began to offer terms for themselves, and were full of dread,
and bade Njal to come between them with an offer of atonement.
Njal said that could only be if there were no guile behind. Then
they begged him to have a share in the award, and said they would
hold to what he awarded.
Njal said he would make no award unless it were at the Thing, and
unless the best men were by; and they agreed to that.
Then NjaI came between them, so that they gave each other pledges
of peace and atonement.
Njal was to utter the award, and to name as his fellows those
whom he chose.
A little while after those namesakes met Mord Valgard’s son, and
Mord blamed them much for having laid the matter in Njal’s hands,
when he was Gunnar’s great friend. He said that would turn out
